Abilities:
 •    Holidays with surprising “cuts”
 •    Creativity in recommendations regarding his native city
 •    Trusteeship of spectacular experiences, which no traveler could ever discover without your recommendations.
Yes, it`s a veeery cool job and definitely involves passionate love for your place of birth.
Meet Erk Erkaya, a super cool guy, a local of the grandiose Istanbul, which together with a friend, he founded Locally Istanbul, with all his knowledge and information about everything that stirs in the city-as far as art, culture, design, fashion are concerned – besides a complete knowhow about new &fab spots, creates and ”cuts” for you, as he himself likes to say, some tours which make you feel very much as at home, actually.
Not being a guide, by profession, but knowing everything you may possibly learn about Istanbul, in just a few days, Erk takes you to see special spots, shows you both the visible and the hidden beauty of the city, reveals the night life to you(and obviously the day life, too) so that, at the end, trying to ignore the fatigue(quite pleasant, actually), you can say ,upon your colored word, that you have seen and felt the vibe of Istanbul.
The tours are quite different, depending on what you are interested in and what you want to visit in Istanbul, and the nice “guide” will teach you not only wonderful things about the history and culture of the City, but also a lot of fun stuff about where you can go shopping, where to stop for meze or a cocktail, what club to choose on a Saturday evening…and many other things( in order to impress your friends with, when they join you here, next time!) As I had been to Istanbul before, I asked him to show me special sights and he understood me quite well. So, I went to some chic, little shops in the Grand Bazaar, he recommended us a cruise in the Bosporus Narrow Sea and he was still the one who advised us to make a yacht tour.
After having explored the shops crammed with shopping treasures in the Grand Bazaar and after having eaten together  the best doner in Istanbul, there, at Gul-Ebru, we drank Turkish coffee in a 110 year old café and Erk insisted on joining us to a spot which is perhaps less visited by the tourists, walking in the little streets of Cukurkuma.
I discovered shops of some wonderful, local craftsmen by his side, ceramists, painters and collectors of fairytale-like antiques. He knew everyone, so, you are enjoying an advantage when you are welcome with so much so joy here! Erk invited us to drink an aromatic coffee in one of his favorite cafés in Beyonglu, close to Cukurma, at Drip Coffee Ist, a place which immediately entered my list of “colored-loves”. Following the “couturier`s” suggestion, I also went to the Asian part of Istanbul, thus knowing exactly what to visit and where to eat. Besides Berleybeyi Palace, he also recommended us to go to the only mosque (Sakirin Camii) made by a woman architect, then to the fish market, and to the neighbourhood of Kadikoy.

Colored curiosity: Erk was a collaborator on famous guides about Istanbul, for example, the guide made by Louis Vuitton, and he was also mentioned in Conde Nast Traveler, Le Figaro, L'Express, The Guardian, Independent, L’officiel Magazine / City Guide and many others. His fav places in Istanbul are: Meze by Lemon Tree, Mikla rooftop, Nopa in Nisantasi as favorite places of going out, Arzu Kaprol and Fashion @ Eye are must stops of shopping, and his fav destinations are Bodrum, Alacati & Cesme in Izmir, Italia and New York.

That`s couture… Colored couture.

Locally Istanbul

Meric Cad. Botanik Carsi 15/38 Atasehir - Istanbul
Tel: +90 538 064 9400
E-mail: erk@locallyistanbul.com

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